Jewish Conservatism

I am not myself the least bit Jewish, and thus might not be thought to care very much about this subject; however, I do have some Jewish friends, including one of the authors of this piece on why Jews might be becoming more conservative than heretofore in American politics. As they point out, there are several different sets of reasons that are impelling a reconsideration of political loyalties on that front.

6 comments:

Cassandra said...

For whatever little it may be worth, my next door neighbors are both Jewish and have both been Rethugs all their lives :p Sample size of 2, though...

Grim said...

I mean, I can give you two more -- I know a couple who are quite conservative politically, Jewish, and even college professors. But I think the authors are right to say that the sort of expected standard among American Jews has been otherwise.

In any case, it's a piece that's worth reading if you're a conservative who might be thinking about the need for new allies.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

From your mouth to God's ears.

douglas said...

I was worried about this:
"with intermarriage rates moving steadily up from 17 percent of all Jews married before 1970 to 58 percent of all Jews married since 2005."

Till I read this part:
"At present, roughly 10 percent of all American Jewish adults are Orthodox, while an estimated 27 percent of all Jewish children are being raised in Orthodox homes. According to the 2013 Pew report, the Orthodox community (especially the Haredi) has virtually no intermarriage, as compared with a 72 percent intermarriage rate among non-Orthodox Jews since 2000. They have a high birth rate: 4.1 children per couple vs. 1.7 for non-Orthodox Jews. And they have a high retention rate of preserving serious Jewish commitment in their children. In short: Orthodox Jewry is growing, while non-Orthodox Jewry is shrinking."

Wow. In a decade or two, they should be a strong republican block, judging by trends, and assuming not too much ideological rebellion by generation.

Texan99 said...

Slightly OT, but I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and practiced in a Jewish law firm. It's an incredibly close-knit community that performs particularly well in disasters. I've had help come in from people I wouldn't normally have said I was that close to, just because I put the word out in the legal community. I miss that community. Not many Jews in Aransas County. :-)

Ymar Sakar said...

Some of the red Indian tribes have a pretty large claim on Hebrew ancestry.